I hope to pick up my new baby from Greg soon. Part of the reason for getting a Speedster is my ability to work on, upgrade, fix and fettle myself. How many of you have the ability to raise your care other than jack stands? Curious to know, should I invest in some kind of lift? Will it make my hobby more enjoyable or should I invest elsewhere? Advice would be appreciated. Cheers.
Richard
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I have a Ranger Quick Jack BL3500#. Cost about $800 with free delivery/no tax. I feel safer using it than Harbor Freight pump jack and jack stands BUT it only gets vehicle raised 22-24". It can easily be moved and stored out of the way. It comes in 120v, 230v or 12v versions.
Thanks I’ll check it out
I worked on hobby cars the first 15 years rolling around on my back under Jack stands and then looked into a lift which was the absolute best investment I ever made. In my case because I have a high ceiling garage the lift acts as a place to store a car while another can be parked under. I love my lift. They really don't cost all that much, I think about $2000.00 20 years ago. I have used my lift to pull and install plenty a VW engines. I either raise or lower the car down too or up and away from the engine sitting on a rolling table. The lift also makes detailing your car a snap, no bending over to clean the wheels and lower parts of the car. If you consider yourself a car guy/gal consider a lift. I promise you won't regret it. My lift even has wheels and can be moved around the garage if needed. I have moved twice and the lift came with me. They are easy to move without disassembly. You pull a flat car trailer under the lift and lower it down until the lift rails come down on to the trailer. The hydraulic pressure raises the 4 support post up and off the ground. Unplug the cord for the hydraulic motor and drive off with the lift on the trailer, easy peasy.
I have the Harbor Freight 6000 pound capacity scissor lift. Absolutely no installation, you just need a concrete floor and a 220v outlet. I built a 2" high wooden drive-on platform as my Spyder is so low.
The lift raises the car 48" of awesome, I use a creeper type seat and get under it easily. All the way up is too high for wheel/tire/brake/suspension work, but it has plenty of safety-stops to get the right working height. I even put the lift up 18" or so to work under dash.
It would probably work even better on a Speedster due to the rear engine rather than my Spyder's mid-engine. The above lift and a motorcycle/ATV jack would work great for motor-pulling in a Speedy.
The lift has two hydraulic rams connected with one hose to the pump. Totally trouble-free so far.
I've had it for 3 years now.
Having a lift at home makes things so easy; would be a dream to have one but I haven't been so lucky. I had to make do with jackstands and ramps for different uses. Those plastic ramps are pretty useful especially when you want to maintain the axles on swingaxle units straight when swapping axle boots. Clearance is decent.
By any means; if you can spring for one do it!
Great stuff guys my dream would be a 4 poster but I don’t have the room,my house and garage were built in 1932. I’m tending toward a scissor lift like the one fromHarbor Freight. Thank for the advice.
Richard
This is the lift I’m considering
https://stratusautoequip.com/s...d-rise-scissor-lift/
120V
I too have a Quick Jack. When not in use the frames can be pushed toward the center of the car and stored there.
When the couple across the street got divorced the husband left behind a 4 post lift. I haven't been able to persuade her to let me push it to my side of the street.
I have both a BendPak 2-post and a Steel Valley 4-post lift. If you want to work on a car, the 2-post is vastly better. A 4-post can be made to work, but commercial shops all have 2-post lifts.
4-post lifts require nothing special for power or floor strength, but you probably wouldn't want to put a 2-post lift in a garage unless you've got at least 12-1/2 ft clear inside and have at least a 6" floor with re-bar.
I have neither unfortunately
My buddy was installing a four poster in his new house/garage today. He mostly did it for parking space, but he told me it has jack adapters on the inside of each rail so you can use the jack points and take off the wheels as well, which is my only problem with a 4 post rail lift.
The school surpluses their lifts from time to time. Some of their older ones are a big, flat scissor lift, which would be perfect for the flat-bottomed Spyder. Last ones they got rid of went for $300.
I looked at lots of lifts and all have advantages and disadvantages. I settled on quickjack because it leaves the center clear it is specific for length so get the right model for your car. I have the original 3500lbs and a 5000lbs EX I believe,
The scissor jack is similar but occupies the center, sometime placement is important for balance on these things.
As Stan has said he has two, one allows pretty much everything to be worked on from underneath and a 4 poster for parking and convenience.
Lots of choices. Someone on here has MaxJacks as well, I think it is West Coast Bruce.
I would get a 4 post for storage if I had a ceiling higher than 9 foot in my garage but for most things I do the quickjack is awesome and the perfect height for detailing and brake work, etc. I don't plan on doing an engine removal but I think it could be done with it and you could add some height if you needed to very easily with a wooden platform on it.
@R Thorpe posted:Great stuff guys my dream would be a 4 poster but I don’t have the room,my house and garage were built in 1932. I’m tending toward a scissor lift like the one fromHarbor Freight. Thank for the advice.
Richard
I've got 7' high ceiling in the garage, so I hear that. I can't go all the way up because the garage door mechanism is in the way.
Most Speedsters that aren't slammed to the floor will clear the lift when driving over it.
@IaM-Ray posted:The scissor jack is similar but occupies the center, sometime placement is important for balance on these things.
The scissor lift weighs 950 pounds all by itself. I wouldn't use it on any floor other than smooth concrete. If the back of the lift is at the beginning of the engine compartment, balance won't be an issue.
Have you actually used one? Or are we just playing devil's advocate based on a guess?
Has anybody used the 5000 lb. QuickJack on a Speedster? I'd love to have one but I'm concerned that the wheelbase of the car is too short to fit. I'd rather buy one that could support all of my vehicles instead of just one.
I have the Quickjack 3500, same as someone up above. It fits the once you figure out where to position the two sides to get the right place for balancing the car once raised.
So it fits the Speedster and I have also used in on a Subaru Outback and Nissan Rogue but found that it was too short for a Porsche 996. For that you'll need the longer QJ 5000.
@Alan Merklin had a really nice 48" scissors jack that came from an older SOC member who sold his Speedster. It was a Bend Pack LR-60. It was slightly higher quality overall than those from Harbor Freight and we all know how much Alan has used it on his builds with no issues. Here's the SOC write-up for it:
I think some time back someone posted about a QJ 5000 being used with a Speedster by rotating the racks 90 degrees, across the car instead of between the wheels.
The back story to that scissor lift is, Brain and I would message back and forth re: his beautiful IM as seen in the link photos, the lift was in a beautiful large custom garage in Hilton Head SC. The sole purpose of the lift was so that he didn't have to bend over to wax the lower portion of the IM ...I got a message from Brian to call him, on the phone he asked about my then new home shop then, gifts... me the scissor lift ! Drove to SC the next AM arriving at the community gate house I was escorted to Brian's huge home Castle. If took some time for me by myself to get the lift up onto my trailer w/o making a mark on his perfect garage floor all this while Brian observed while sipping on a goblet size martini. Before I left he asked if I wanted to se his new toy ... a huge boat lock to raise and lower his large boat with the tide. That lift served me for 9 or so years from speedsters to an extend cab Ford F150 . It has been in Bill Drayer's home shop for 3 years now.
_________________________________________________________________________________________@Alan Merklin had a really nice 48" scissors jack that came from an older SOC member who sold his Speedster. It was a Bend Pack LR-60. It was slightly higher quality overall than those from Harbor Freight and we all know how much Alan has used it on his builds with no issues. Here's the SOC write-up for it:
On the web site there is a fitment scale for which Quickjackusa to use
it tells you the spread range then you can see if you can use the jacks between the wheels or across the car sideways,
On top of this you can buy or make extenders for longer cars and even get suv high blocks to lift higher
As Gordon says they came in an original 3500 Then in 3500xl and 5000 etc etc
here is the fitting link
Yeah I like that one. ~$2k is pricey, but I'll put that on my "Wants" list.
Lane open boxed ones are much cheaper and they do come on sale and I bought the 5000 frame only used on Kijiji in Shelby township
The other day I came home to find my son using the f5000 and the car up exhaust off he said dad it takes like 15 seconds to lift the car, I guess is works for us.
FYI. Costco site
I seem to recall that open box ones show up on eBay.
From time to time Costco has the 5000# units on sale.
I use a MaxJack "portable". You can put it away when not in use. Ten bolts later its ready to use. You really do need a 6" thick slab to be secure though.........Bruce
Bruce,
Thats the one to get but I don't have a thick enough slab. Cheers.
Richard
@aircooled posted:I use a MaxJack "portable". You can put it away when not in use. Ten bolts later its ready to use. You really do need a 6" thick slab to be secure though.........Bruce
Bruce, I remember you posting 
about it and considered it but in my garage I could not be sure how much the cement was in thickness in the middle so I went with the quick jack. Sometimes I think of drilling a few holes with a hammer drill at the location to see if there is enough cement there to hold them in place and I really like being able to remove and store them away.
I guess one could add or have a two post installed with a solid metal plate on the floor.
If you opt towards a QuickJack, my only suggestion, beyond getting the right length for your application, is to go with direct connections at the ramp end and the Quickjack quick disconnect fittings at the pump end.
Why?
Because the quick disconnects leak more often than not so you'll only have to deal with the leaks at the pump, not way under the car.
You can get whatever fittings you need at most NAPA stores for under $20 each.
Maybe a different manufacturer for the fittings would work better, but I haven't tried that yet.
And to add to Alan's story, Brian started a manufacturing operation way back when to make electronic capacitors. That's like saying you're gonna make a commodity like bread or tooth brushes, but he quickly built his business up over years and then sold it to a much larger company for lotsa bucks and had homes on Hilton Head Island and Palm Springs, along with his big yacht. After he gave his lift to Alan he and his wife were planning on selling that big (55' I think) motor yachet and getting, as he put it, a "Rock Star RV" and touring the country for a few years because his wife got tired of only seeing the USA from the coasts on their boat.
I haven't heard from him since, but as Alan pointed out, the guy had a YUGE! castle-like place on Hilton Head's Windmill Harbor next to the SC Yacht Club, which had a lock at the entrance to keep the yacht basin always at high tide level to allow larger boats to dock at their owner's houses. There were some pretty big boats in there.
Few years ago I got an "open box" BL3500 from QuickJack. I had to call to see if they had any. It came in beat up boxes and a couple scratches but in new condition other wise. It was the prior year model with manual safety legs - but was like $850. Curent price is $1230. Call and see if they have deals on open boxes.
@Michael McKelvey posted:I too have a Quick Jack. When not in use the frames can be pushed toward the center of the car and stored there.
When the couple across the street got divorced the husband left behind a 4 post lift. I haven't been able to persuade her to let me push it to my side of the street.
Move in with her.
For the guys whose concrete floors aren't thick enough wouldn't it be fairly simple to cut out a large enough section, side drill for rebar attachment, and pour a new floor? Rent the saw, drill, and jackhammer from Home Depot and have a party. Hire the concrete guy to make sure it's done right or do it yourself. Nice thick floor.
@DannyP Raise the garage door rails all the way to the ceiling and install a jack screw.
The way too go, a lot of work, and with my garage I still couldn’t stand under the car
I have a used hydraulic low-rise lift I found on Craigslist several years back. It's great for changing tires, brake work, etc. while sitting on a stool. It will lift the car high enough to pull the engine and slide it out the back below the rear apron. Here's a shot of my speedster sitting on it with the wheels off. 
Thank you I think I will be looking for that kind of height.
What is the risk of an exposed license plate?
@Michael McKelvey posted:What is the risk of an exposed license plate?
Minimal to nonexistent.
@Michael McKelvey posted:What is the risk of an exposed license plate?
I took that photo to post on Facebook, where the possibility of nefarious individuals gaining access to personal data such as my home address is much higher than here with our friendly little group.
@Robert M posted:For the guys whose concrete floors aren't thick enough wouldn't it be fairly simple to cut out a large enough section, side drill for rebar attachment, and pour a new floor? Rent the saw, drill, and jackhammer from Home Depot and have a party. Hire the concrete guy to make sure it's done right or do it yourself. Nice thick floor.
@DannyP Raise the garage door rails all the way to the ceiling and install a jack screw.
The ceiling in my garage is 7 feet, the door and tracks aren't the issue. The door motor is BEHIND the windshield, so not in the way either. It's the actual ceiling, built by my Grandfather in 1950.
I'll get more height in my next garage.
Me too my, 30’s Cal Spanish has a flat roofed low garage. No hope of a real ramp.
@Eric (McGruff) posted:I took that photo to post on Facebook, where the possibility of nefarious individuals gaining access to personal data such as my home address is much higher than here with our friendly little group.
Aren't you afraid some "nefarious individual" will see your plate driving down the road and hack your personal data?
When I sold a car online I was advised to cover the license plates when I took pictures to post. I don’t think it hurts to be cautious these days. BTW I drove around for days with my plates covered. Yikes.
